Newsbrief: Today's announcement of The Sims 4 isn't exactly earth-shattering, but what's interesting is how in this post-SimCity world, Maxis and EA made sure to stress that this game is absolutely, positively, playable offline.

The second sentence of today's press release reads: "The Sims 4 celebrates the heart and soul of the Sims themselves, giving players a deeper connection with the most expressive, surprising and charming Sims ever in this single-player offline experience." (Emphasis added.)

EA-owned Maxis ran into well-publicized issues that sprung from SimCity's server problems, which kept many paying customers from being able to play the game when it first launched. The game raised controversy as many argued the always-online game should be playable offline in single player mode, and that the problems were caused by intrusive DRM.

EA said the franchise has sold over 150 million copies worldwide. The Sims 4 is slated for a 2014 release on Mac and PC.